Applications of electrospun nanofibrous membranes for liquid filtration have recently been demonstrated for microfiltration, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration. These membranes can effectively increase the permeability of a membrane formed therefrom, while maintaining high rejection ratios.
Biofuels are a wide range of fuels derived from biomass. Two of the more utilized biofuels include ethanol derived from corn grain and biodiesel derived from soybeans. There has been a steady increase in demand for biofuels, especially with the use of ethanol as an additive to gasoline in the U.S.
Industrial alcohol can be obtained from fermentation of suitable biomass (e.g. corn) using multi-staged distillation processes, which are based on the different boiling points between water, ethanol and their mixtures When ethanol is added into gasoline, its water content must be minimized because gasoline/ethanol mixture should not contain water. In other words, for most industrial and fuel applications, ethanol must be purified to minimize the water content. The final dehydration step in alcohol purification process usually requires a great deal of energy and is expensive to complete. There are also issues with exhaust/emissions. Currently, the distillation method is the most widely adopted, but it requires high energy consumption.
Membranes and methods permitting more energy efficient purification of alcohol remain desirable.